Parts of China are on lockdown, a small number of cases have been reported in other countries and the past week has brought widely conflicting views on the potential danger presented by the new virus.
We look at the scientific facts, analyse why it’s so difficult to predict the spread of the virus, look at the nature of virus infection and discuss why treatments such as vaccines are not available.
We look at why some viruses can jump from animals to humans and examine hi-tech solutions designed to speed up the process of drug development.
Image: Medical staff member helps a couple at a hospital in Wuhan. Credit: Feature China/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
The best way to fund open source projects remains a question, and one that - in the context of crypto protocols - has never had higher stakes. Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen live action experiments in a number of different approaches.
Gitcoin grants used a quadratic funding program to match grants to technology builders and media creators in Ethereum
After months and months of concerted community debate and conversation, Zcash will implement a new Dev Fund of 20% of the block rewards after the Founders Reward runs out in November, splitting it between the Electric Coin Co (7%), Zcash Foundation (5%) and 3rd party developers (8%)
A consortium (cartel?) of the 4 largest BCH mining pools tried to insist upon a 12.5% block reward diversion to a new dev fund, with a threat to orphan blocks that didn’t comply. The plan ran into a barrier when Roger Ver’s bitcoin.com backed away.
Also in this episode, @nlw looks at the latest in CBDCs - including Japan’s continued hedging that they’re preparing for the possibility of needing to move quickly and Cambodia’s announcement that they will be implementing a CBDC this quarter.
Finally, Andrew Yang took a few minutes yesterday to talk about cryptocurrencies and why regulation with the intent to stop them would be doomed to fail.
What's the Word: Ablation; News Items: Does Information have Mass, Fight Fat with Salt and Ice, Where Does Poop Go, Solar Scam; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Kinesio Tape; Science or Fiction
As of Wednesday night, there are more than 7,700 coronavirus cases in at least 20 countries, including 5 cases in the U.S. Still, it’s not time for you to freak out. We discuss how the media has historically reacted to would-be epidemics and why the CDC says the risk of a stateside coronavirus outbreak is low.
The Guardian announced that it would no longer accept advertising from fossil fuel extractive companies, making them the first major news organization to do so.
And in headlines: Dersh’s bad defense, Success Kid sues, and a spirit cruise in Santa Cruz.
John Green reviews two works of visual art—a series of six paintings by Agnes Martin called “With My Back to the World,” and an untitled 2003 ink drawing by Hiroyuki Doi.
Our correspondent travels to the border of the locked-down Hubei province, finding among the people a mixture of resignation, fear and distrust. Was the draconian response appropriate? Big oil firms have just the kind of expertise needed to make a vast transition to renewables; in order to survive, they should put it to use. And why Mongolia’s winters are growing deadlier. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/radiooffer
We get a lot of BART questions from our listeners, so this week we're answering a slew of them with long-time transit reporter Dan Brekke.
How did they build the underwater tunnels for BART?
In its nearly 50 years of existence, why has BART taken so long to extend into Santa Clara County? And only normally protruded into San Mateo County and never expanded into any of the North Bay counties?
Why are there news kiosks in the BART station that are closed? Why doesn't BART let people run these news kiosks? What is the history?
At the West Oakland BART Station there are ads right next to the third rail. How on earth do they change those out without getting electrocuted?
Why does it seem like the escalators are constantly broken?
Why does BART announce elevator status all the time?
Our question askers this week were Briana, Brad Meyer, Jay Quigley, Mark, Dan and Eric.
Produced by Jessica Placzek and Olivia Allen-Price. Featuring KQED's transit editor Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Patricia Yollin, Carly Severn, Christopher Cox, Bianca Hernandez, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Holly Kernan.
In which a forgotten medieval art of tree-harvesting is revived by the sustainability movement, and Ken blames the coming environmental catastrophe on "sugar energy." Certificate #22560.
Apple’s 4 divisions are as big as 4 other super companies. Barstool Sports hits a $450M valuation after an investment from a casino company. And SAP is the most valuable company in Germany, but no one really knows what it does — good thing it just announced earnings, and it’s all about FOMO Marketing.
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Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is making two arguments in the last few days before the Iowa caucuses. One is all about the heart—you know Joe, you love Joe. The other argument is all in the head—Democrats need to vote for a candidate who can beat Trump. But how does that argument fare when you look up close at voters in Iowa?
Guests: Slate’s senior politics writer Jim Newell and What Next producer Mary Wilson.
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